In Monroe, Washington, a trust is a specific method of managing property for the benefit of another person. A trustee is able to possess and, to some extent, control the property. However, the property is owned by the beneficiary, the person for whose benefit the property is being used.

Trusts serve a number of purposes. For example, they can be set up to ensure that the beneficiary (say, a child) will perpetually have enough money to live off of, but will be unable to spend it all on frivolities.

A trust can make as many or as few allowances as the person creating it wants. For example, a trust could be set up which permits the beneficiary to spend the money on educational expenses, and nothing else.

If you want, you could establish a trust with no restrictions on how much money the trustee can spend from the trust, and let the beneficiary spend all the money on whatever they'd like. If this is what you want to do, that's fine- but if the beneficiary is a young adult with spendthrift habits, you obviously might want to take into consideration the fact that they could easily spend all the money on some pretty frivolous stuff.

What to Include in Any Monroe, WA Trust

There are 4 distinct elements that must be present for any trust to be valid in Monroe, Washington. The first element is the purpose - in drafting a trust document, the purpose that the trust is serving must be expressed.

Second, there must be a trustee. This is the person who will administer the trust, and retain possession of the property or money that it contains, as well as being responsible for using it to effectuate the trust's purpose.

The third element is a beneficiary. The beneficiary is a person or entity who the trust is created to benefit. Although a beneficiary has to be named, they don't truly have to exist at the time the trust is written. For instance, if a person sets up a trust to benefit his or her grandchildren, and doesn't yet have any, the trust is valid. If and when their grandchildren are born, the rights that the trust creates will vest in them immediately.

Lastly, the trust needs to truly be composed of something. A trust document must name the money or property which is directly being held in trust, which is identified as the "corpus" or "body" of the trust.

Can A Monroe, Washington Trust Drafting Attorney Help?

While it's fairly easy to list off the basic requirements for a valid trust, actually creating and implementing one can be fairly difficult. Therefore, you should probably seek the help of a Monroe, Washington attorney if you wish to set up a trust.